Livingston will look to bounce back from a stuttering start in the IRN-BRU SFL First Division by knocking out Scottish Cup holders Heart of Midlothian from The Scottish Communities League Cup at Tynecastle on Tuesday night. It will be like a home game for two of their players, Craig Barr and Liam Fox, especially as the Edinburgh ground holds special memories for them.
For CRAIG BARR, it will bring back recollections of being involved in two historic firsts whereas for Fox, he will be able to recall years of development amongst international class players.
25-year-old defender Barr is Edinburgh born however, he spent the first three years of his football career at English side Blackburn Rovers before joining Gretna in their First Division Championship season of 2006/07. He left Gretna as the then SPL Raydale Park club fell into financial trouble during season 2007/08 and he moved to Queen of the South when he signed a two year deal in June, 2008.
He moved back closer to home when he signed for the Lions in the summer of 2010 for a season in the Second Division and the centre back said: "When I grew up, I was never a Hearts fan or a Hibs fan as I was always playing football but I would go to Tynecastle to watch games when I could. I went there a few times and it is always good for a number of reasons including being only a short distance from home for me.
"It is a cracking venue for football especially when there are a lot of fans in it as the atmosphere is electric. I am hoping that a lot of our fans can come along and help build some of that atmosphere on Tuesday."
As well as being a special place to watch football and being close to home, Tynecastle is a special place for Barr who broke two memorable ducks there with the one nod of his head as he explained: "I scored my first ever senior goal there when I was a Gretna player back in August, 2007. It was a header past Steve Banks with about 10 minutes to go and it secured Gretna’s first ever SPL point. It was the highlight in what was a strange season with Gretna.
"I have the photo of that goal in my house and hopefully, I can recreate it on Tuesday night."
Barr knows that his side go into this game as underdogs saying: "Hearts are the favourites but it is a decent Draw for us and we will be well up for the game. It is a difficult tie but we will go there with a quiet confidence as we have players that can play good football especially away from home.
"We have not given our fans much to shout about this season but hopefully, we can do that in this game. Apart from the Dunfermline game on Saturday, we have secured better results away from home and we are not sure why that is.
"Our home form is baffling as went 18 months without losing there when I first joined and now we can’t seem to get three points there. Hopefully, we can put on another good away show at Hearts."
Barr added: "Hearts’ last cup tie at Tynecastle was against Liverpool in the Europa League and now it is against us in The Scottish Communities League Cup. It is a different type of occasion and maybe we will catch them unaware and can sneak past them."
Livingston midfielder and club captain, LIAM FOX, has a stronger emotional tie to the Gorgie Road ground than Barr as he spent a lot of his time at the club as a youth both as a player and a fan.
Fox explained: "I was at Hearts as a player aged from 16 to 20 and mixed with a lot of very good players in youth, reserve and first team squads.
"I came through the youth system there with Craig Gordon, Stephen Simmons, Paul Kaczan, Joe Hammill, Graham Weir, Robert Sloan, Neil Janczyk and Elliot Smith. I have a lot of happy memories and it is great that so many of us have continued to be involved in football at various levels."
One happy memory that Fox does not have is of pulling on a maroon jersey and starring in the first team at Tynecastle as he said: "I trained with the first team and was included in several squads but I never got on the park which was disappointing. The competition for players then was intense as we had internationalists in Paul Hartley, Thomas Flogel, Scott Severin and Colin Cameron as well as a great player in Stevie Fulton available so I am not too hard on myself about it."
Fox added: "I was a Hearts' fan when I was a young boy and would have loved to have played for them. It would have been great for my Dad as well as he was a big Jambo. He will have mixed feelings on Tuesday night when Livingston play there as after I left them, he has watched me play with Inverness Caley and then Livingston.
"He has seen me play at Tynecastle for Inverness and that was a special moment for him and I am sure that he will enjoy being back there for this one as it is always a special atmosphere there, especially in games under the floodlights."
Livingston are, of course, managed by John Hughes and have John Collins as their Director of Football and they are both well known for wearing the green and white colours of Hearts’ Edinburgh rivals, Hibernian, but there has been no pre-match banter from the former Easter Road duo with the West Lothian club’s skipper.
"I would imagine people from the outside have been thinking that it would have come up," said Fox before adding, "It actually hasn’t as we have been concentrating fully on our First Division games. I would have thought that it may have started at 5.30 on Saturday after the game at Dunfermline but that was a disappointing afternoon for everyone.
"However, I am sure that they will be mentioning Hearts and Hibs a few times before kick-off."
Fox reckons that some of the young Lions in the Livingston squad will enjoy the experience of facing the SPL side as he explained: "It is a big ask for us to win through but we will go there and look to play like we can. For a number of our players like Ross Gray, Dean Cummings and Jordon Morton, they will enjoy it all the more as, like me, they were Hearts' supporters when they were younger.
"It is a great opportunity for them and the rest of the team to show people what they can do. They should be able to do that with some freedom as there is no pressure on Livingston to win this game, it is all on Hearts."
Unfortunately, Fox’s dad may not see his son play this time as an injury looks set to keep him out with the 28-year-old saying: "I have been out for eight months now but I have returned to training and am getting there bit by bit. It would have been great if we could have saved the trip to Hearts for the Quarter Finals next month as I will be back by then."
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